Kitty Malone, the Weasley Boys, and the Marauder's Map ChP-6
by gabytinglund
Summary: This first installment two years before Harry Potter showed up, when the twins found the Marauder's Map. Note that both Canon and Fanon are used in this work. Weekly installments will be made until the entire story is posted. It should also be noted that the language is American English. Please enjoy this, keep in mind that eventually it will span all of the series.
1. Prologue

Note: Note: The following chapters will be added in weekly installments. Eventually these stories will pan out into the entire Harry Potter series and perhaps a few more after that, depending on interest. The second year is not yet in the works, but this entire story is completed. Secondly, these works won't use very much British terminology as I'm not going to make a mockery of myself by attempting something I don't know how to do. XD Enjoy. =)

**Book One:**

**Kitty Malone, the Weasley Boys, and the Marauder's Map**

**First Year**

**By Gabriela Tinglund**

Prologue

Kittianna Belle Malone was an intelligent child, as both her parents had been. The slim, silky-haired girl looked just like her mother with her long, straight, red hair and clear blue eyes. She had been orphaned young by the Death Eaters who had attacked her parents at their home in America.

Her father, Andrew Malone, was an American wizard. He'd gone to Maine's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was well known for his wizard training; he became one of the youngest documented spell-makers at the age of nineteen. He had met Kittianna's mother, Latsia Lusther, soon after graduation, at a Quidditch World Cup game, Russia vs. America.

Kittianna's mother had gone to Durmstrang's Women's Institute in Sweden for her witch training. She was a native Russian. Her parents fell fast and hard for each other. His Scandinavian look of blond hair and blue eyes as well as his jovial temperament quickly won over the red-haired and blue-eyed girl with the hot-temper. They married after a year of courtship and settled down on the coast of Maine in America, and it wasn't long before little Kittianna was born.

Her mother won the name game, having guessed the gender of their baby, so she ended up with rather a unique name that was popular in Russia at the time. Both of Kittianna's parents were exceptional in magic, and both were Pure Blood, meaning there was only magical blood running through their veins.

It was because of that Pure Blood they were killed. The Death Eaters had been sent out to recruit as many Pure Bloods as possible. Voldemort's main purpose was to keep wizardry alive and end all non-magical creatures. He wanted to create a regiment purely out of Pure Blood wizards to be his main fighting group in order to help him destroy all those who stood in his path.

Voldemort never achieved his goal, thankfully, because many of the Pure Bloods were not on his side. This included the Malone family, the Luthsters, and the Potters, among others; many members of these families were killed because they stood up to You-Know-Who.

As it turned out, not all wizards or Pure Bloods had animosity toward the non-magical. In fact, some were very friendly to them. Kittianna's parents died a week before they would have joined the fighting force against Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix. Sadly, the Death Eater's found them in a Muggle fishing shack they'd been using to hide in Maine.

For some unknown reason, the Death Eaters who attacked her parents let the baby live. Perhaps it was because she was an unusually quiet child, and they simply had not heard her. Or maybe Kittianna had simply seemed too normal of a child; though, the fact she did not display any of her magic until the age of six would have made her death more likely. Perhaps as a Pure Blood baby, they had hoped to recruit her when she grew older and couldn't kidnap the baby, as it would only slow them down. For whatever reason, Kittianna was left alive.

After the loss of her parents, the baby was found by the Order who had come to look for her parents after losing communication. They found the bodies of her parents and the poor starving toddler the pair had loved so dearly. The Order took poor Kittianna to England.

In England she was adopted by the Habersnaps, her parents having put the Habersnaps in their will as the Godparents of their child and Guardians, should they pass. The Habersnaps took her in as if she were their own; they had been close friends of the Lusthers since childhood. Their own parents had been good friends as well, the Habersnaps and Lusthers of old having met in a Tri-Wizard Tournament many years ago.

Soon after adopting Kittianna, they also adopted her new younger sister, Melissa Lynn Cambell. Her wizard parents had been the victims of a bridge collapse caused by the Death Eaters. The collapse had been meant to take down the President of the U.S. at the time, but only managed to destroy many Muggles, non magical people, and wizard lives, not that it mattered to the Death Eaters who died and who lived. Their duty was solely to Lord Voldemort and achieving his all-magical dream for the future.

Melissa, the child of a Muggle and a witch, was put into the Wizard Adoption Agency, located in London. WAA, which seemed rather fitting for a child adoption agency. To Muggles this service was known as Watching American Authors, some lame book club that was unappealing to them. Kittianna had been lucky enough to escape this agency due to the Order, but it took Melissa two years to be adopted because of all the government nonsense, red tape, and paperwork involved.

The agency was very strict and required that all adoptees go to strictly magical homes. Melissa almost didn't get adopted by the Habersnaps because they lived in a mainly Muggle town called Truscan. The Habersnaps, after adopting Melissa, decided they were now a complete family. Little, curly-haired brunette Melissa with her green eyes fit right in with the family, and Kittianna quickly fell into the role of big sister.

Helen and Frank Habersnap were a kindly couple. Frank was a rather large man with big meaty hands and arms. His hugs could be just a little too rough, and his laugh was hearty and jovial. Frank's brown hair was thinning, making him appear in his early fifties rather than his early forties. His wife, Helen, was almost the opposite.

Helen appeared much like a fairy to the two young girls. She was petite with bright green eyes and long, straight black hair. Her laugh had the distinct sound of bells. Both of the adopted parents were kind and doting. They were unable to have any children of their own, loving their two adoptees as if they had always been theirs.

Kittianna grew up being told of her parents everyday at bedtime by the Habersnaps and, each year, her freckles seemed to multiply. Helen Habersnap would say they were kisses from her parents. Poor Melissa would have no such tales, but enjoyed curling up next to Kittianna to hear hers anyway. The two girls were very close, and Melissa followed Kittianna almost everywhere, sometimes to Kittianna's dismay.

Though Kittianna knew the Habersnaps were not her parents, she still called them Mom and Dad, and Melissa was sister. Kittianna began to learn magic. She remembered her parents making pictures on the wall with magic and creating shadow puppets to the magical backdrops they created; though, she was just a baby at the time.

It was no surprise to the obviously also magical Habersnaps when Kittianna started showing signs of being a witch; though, it was a little late in happening. There had been some fear that Kittianna was a squib, a child born of strong magical parents but without magical powers of their own. Thankfully, the kitchen tables and chairs lost their legs suddenly around the time of Kittianna's sixth birthday. Kittianna had become angry because she had to set the table. Melissa soon took after her sister and started exhibiting signs of magic as well.

After a few more years, the war ended. Lily and James Potter (a Pure Blood wizard married to a Muggle-born or magical person born from Muggles; which was a crime to Voldemort,) members of the Order at the time were killed in the home they'd been hiding in. There was talk there had been a prophecy Voldemort was trying to keep from happening, others simply thought he was trying to destroy a Muggle-born, whom were people he truly despised, that had married a Pure Blood.

It was said the Godfather of James and Lily's son and their best friend, Sirius Black, had betrayed them. He was sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison, on a life sentence. This prison contained the worst of witch and wizard criminals, many Death Eaters were caught and placed there as well. The Dementors, magical creatures who survived by sucking souls and happy memories from people, were the guards there and it was relatively impossible to escape.

Somehow the Potters' son, Harry, had survived the death jinx, Avada Kedavra, thrown at him by Voldemort. Voldemort disappeared, some said he was dead, and some said he was hiding, leaving only a lightning bolt shaped scar on a baby boy he'd tried to kill. The Death Eaters disbanded, becoming the people they'd been before, or rotting away in Azkaban. The wizarding world was safe and rejoicing again because of The-Boy-Who-Lived. He was sent to live with a Muggle family.

So, the war had ended, and the two girls grew, and it wasn't long before the Habersnaps revealed to them that they would have to go to wizarding school. This excited the girls greatly. The two were ecstatic to learn more about their magical powers. It was important to keep the two girls home schooled, so they would learn their basic school skills, arithmetic, reading, grammar, etc. without disrupting the Muggle children or revealing their powers.

This sadly left the two with very few friends, as there were no wizard public schools nearby their little town of Truscan, just a short distance away from another Muggle town called Little Whinging. Often the kids in town would tease the two girls for being "weird" and "different," sometimes leading to magical mishaps that needed the Ministry of Magic to clear up. Muggles were not supposed to know about witches and wizards, and before a young witch or wizard went to school, they often didn't know how to control their magic when their emotions flared up.

Finally, Kittianna became old enough to go to wizarding school. She would be going to Hogwarts she'd been told. Each day Kittianna waited by the mail slot playing patty-cake with little Melissa, who was still too young to go. Finally, in the month of July Kittianna received her long-awaited letter. She had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One-Special Abilities

Kittianna had always known she was special. At least, she'd been told ever since she was a child just how special she was. Kittianna was a witch. But just because she was a witch, that didn't mean she was any more special than other kids. Her younger sister, Melissa, was also a witch, and her adopted parents were both magical. Magic wasn't what made Kittianna feel more special than others.

There was more to Kittianna than simply magic. Simply was a strange word to use, but she had something more. Kittianna could dream into the future.

It didn't happen very often. Sometimes what she thought was a "future dream" was simply a dream she'd had because she was excited for the coming day. Still, every once in a while, a dream of Kittianna's would come completely true.

Magic was amazing and special; though, Kittianna knew that not everyone was magical. She learned this when she was talking to the other children at a playground. Kittianna had mentioned she'd dreamed the exact event the other day, and the other children stared at her. Perhaps she'd also talked about the self-cleaning dishes.

"You're weird," one said.

"Completely crazy!" cried another.

"People don't do that," a young girl shook her head.

"I don't want to play with you anymore," they all agreed.

Sometimes, it wasn't very fun to be special at all. Since then, she never mentioned her dreams. Kittianna didn't want to feel special anymore. Simply magical was good enough for her now, but only in the magical world did she enjoy fitting in as much as she could.

She'd never told her adopted parents, Helen and Frank Habersnap, about her "future dreams," but maybe it was better that way. For all she knew, Kittianna's future dreams were not normal for magical people either. So now, she just wanted to be special through her magic, but it took a long time for it to show up.

It wasn't until she was a week or two away from the age of six that Kittianna would show her magic. She was so angry; angry because she wanted to go play with newly adopted sister Melissa, who was four at the time. But Kittianna was supposed to make the table for lunch. She didn't want to and the table and chairs lost their legs, causing a loud ruckus. The Habersnaps were delighted, but, of course, she was also scolded for not doing as she was told.

Little Kittianna was ecstatic, and went to the park after lunch that day. Melissa would have to play by herself, she'd decided. She was special again and wanted to make friends. Special people always made the best friends in the stories Helen Habersnap read to her at night.

Sadly, the park children were as cruel as always.

"You're so weird," they mumbled.

"What kind of name is Kittianna anyway?" a girl asked.

"It sounds stupid," another boy responded.

"It's just Russian," Kittianna would whimper.

"Well we're British here," the boy replied.

"Go away," the children chorused, "you aren't normal!"

"I'm special!" Kittianna cried.

"Special education maybe," an older boy laughed.

Kittianna had again been turned away for being special. Magic was not always what it was cracked up to be, she'd decided. And special was not always a good thing. After walking around the park alone for some time, Kittianna returned home. Helen Habersnap greeted her at the door with her big, fairy smile, reserved for her adopted children and husband.

"How was the park, Kittianna? Did the other children play nice?" she inquired, noticing Kittianna's sad look.

"They never do; Mom, they never do. I don't want to be special! My name is dumb, I'm dumb, and I'll never make friends!"

Helen Habersnap wrapped little Kittianna up in her thin arms, holding her close.

"You are not dumb," she said looking into Kittianna's eyes, "you are a bright little girl with a bright future ahead of you. Let me tell you a secret."

Kittianna looked up at her adopted mother, small tears staining her cheeks.

"When I was your age, the other children thought I was weird. You know what I mean?"

Kittianna nodded and waited for the rest of the story.

"But then one day, I got a letter from a school called Hogwarts. They knew I was special, and I was going to go to school with other magical and special students from all over Britain and Scotland."

Kittianna was fascinated now, and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

"We learned all sorts of magic tricks and spells. I learned every piece of magic I know from Hogwarts."

"Do I get a Hogwarts?" Kitty asked, bewildered by the information.

"Of course you do. When you're old enough, you can go to Hogwarts and learn all sorts of magic. You'll be ten or eleven when your special letter comes by owl in July. That's when it always comes."

This brightened Kittianna's spirits, and soon she was her happy self again.

"Mom," she asked.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Is my name stupid?"

"Absolutely not!" Helen mussed her hair gently, "But we could give you a nickname if you like."

"Like Kitty-Witty? Like when Dad sends me to bed?"

"Exactly, but maybe just Kitty. How does that sound?"

Kitty loved it. She now only went by Kitty, unless she got in trouble. Because of Helen, Kitty felt special again, and maybe magic wasn't so bad, parents could do that; make you happy again when you felt like you weren't worth it.

The years went by, and Kitty was going to turn eleven on the 1st of September. The first day of July, she sat in front of the mail slot all day playing patty-cake with Melissa. Kitty was a bundle of energy and could not contain her excitement. She kept looking for the owl that would bring her letter.

"Kitty, dear," her adopted father, Frank, came around the corner, "I'm not sure if the letter will come today or later. It seems we might receive the letter by the regular postman."

"But I thought it would be an owl…" Kitty complained.

"I'm sorry, but it's a special case," her father replied and sat next to the two girls in the corridor, nearly squishing them against the wall with his rotund frame.

"Why's that?" Melissa, the ever curious, inquired.

"Well you both know we live in a Muggle town, and very rarely, except in the late evening, do we receive mail via owl."

"I don't understand," Melissa and Kitty both pouted.

"Well, Muggles don't get their mail from owls, my dears, I'm sure you've already noticed. They get mail through the regular post. So, often, Hogwarts will send your special letter with the Muggle post."

This news did not suit Kitty, as she had always hoped her letter would come via owl. Kitty had always wanted an owl. She saw owls come with the Daily Prophet, a leading wizard newspaper, for her parents every night, and had so desperately wanted to receive her letter in the same way. Also, the post office was closed today due to a town celebration.

"It's not fair," Kitty groaned.

"I know, I know," her father said, desperately trying to soothe her by stroking her hair.

Frank Habersnap was not the best at dealing with emotional little girls, as hard as he tried.

"I know!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Melissa hopped up and down in the hallway, excited at the look on her father's face.

"You'll get an owl, for your school present. Would that make up for it?" Frank's eyes were imploring, hoping he'd satisfied his eldest daughter.

"Yes, Dad! That's perfect, thank you so much!" Kitty jumped on her father, hugging him tightly.

Helen's voice came from the kitchen, "What's going on out there? Are you promising presents again?"

"Maybe…" Frank replied.

Helen entered the hallway and smiled at her three family members piled there hugging, "You're all silly. Come, let's make lunch."

Kitty went to bed that day satisfied. In a few days, maybe even tomorrow, the postmaster would come with her letter. And she would get her very own owl! Kitty would be special, and she'd soon meet other special, magical children just like her. She'd even learn magical powers and skills. Perhaps her dreams would not be so strange after all. It took her a long time to fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two-The First Meeting

Kitty stared at the envelope she'd just received, "Mooooom!" she called excitedly.

She was ecstatic glancing at the fancy green inked script on the cream colored envelope she held in her hands. It felt heavy for a letter, likely containing her supplies list as well as her welcome letter. Kitty had never felt so accepted, and she hadn't even opened the letter yet.

Helen Habersnap rushed into the hallway, worried until she saw Kitty with her letter, "Oh my! Frank, you're going to want to bring the camera!" she called to her husband.

"I wanna see!"

Eight year old Melissa hopped up and down, excited to see what her sister had received. Kitty was overjoyed herself, handing the letter to her mother.

"It's Hogwarts, Mom! I've been accepted!"

"Well I told you that you would be!" Helen kissed her daughter's forehead, "But I am so proud of you."

After dreadful years of having to hide her magic from the world because she was strange, Kitty was truly happy to be accepted to Hogwarts at last. Since, at age ten going on eleven, she was now of age. She'd heard many stories of the Habersnaps' times in Hogwarts. She was excited beyond belief to have her own adventures soon. Finally, she would meet other children, besides her sister, who were like her.

Frank Habersnap came running with the camera and started to take all sorts of photos of Kitty with her letter, Melissa trying to take the letter, and Helen watching her two adopted daughters with her gentle smile. These photos, Kitty knew, would go into the family album after being treated with a special chemical in the dark room that would make the characters move. The Muggles had non-moving albums, she knew that from the neighbors, and she much preferred seeing her memories come to life.

"I'm so happy for you dear," her mother patted her head and smiled winking, "Want to go shopping when Dad leaves for work?"

"You'll need to get all your school supplies after all," her father winked, putting the camera away.

Kitty clapped her hands, hugging her mother, "Oh thanks so much Mom and Dad; I love you!"

Helen laughed her soft, tinkling laugh. Kitty thought it sounded like a fairy giggling. She even looked like one; though, Kitty had only seen them in storybooks and on the occasional trip to the magical circus in London or the zoo. Frank was almost the opposite of a fairy, but he somehow fit in with Helen's petite frame as he held his wife close.

"Go get dressed and brush your teeth, then you can say goodbye to your father, and we'll go out."

Helen had hardly finished speaking before Kitty had rushed off to her room. Kitty smiled as she brushed her long, red hair. She was thinking all about the pet she would get and how many friends she would make. Within minutes she was ready to go. She hugged her father, Frank, goodbye and marched proudly to her mother's car eager to be on her way.

"You haven't even read your letter yet," Helen teased, "but read it in the car dear, since you obviously can't wait to get going."

Kitty opened her letter noting the Hogwarts crest at the top of the letter, the same as the seal on the envelope, and began to read to herself:

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Malone,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

The first page was enough to fill Kitty with joy, but her curiosity was not satisfied until after she read the second page:

"HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of _WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry nametags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic_

by Bathilda Bagshot

_Magical Theory _

by Adalbert Waffling

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Drafts and Potions_

by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

by Newt Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions"

Kitty was so excited to be a Hogwarts student. Not only would she be learning about her special skills, but also she would be with other children just like her. No one would call her weird now, because everyone would have magic just like she did. Most of all, Kitty was excited to possibly make friends. There was only the nagging doubt that she was even stranger than the others, but she tried to push it away with excitement.

"I'm going to get some money from the bank," Helen told Kitty, "I'll take Melissa with me." Melissa began to protest, wanting to stay with Kitty feeding off of her excited energy, but Helen hushed her and continued to give Kitty her directions, "I trust that you won't run off, and you'll stay here at the pet shop until you've chosen an owl for your school present?"

"Yes Mom! I promise I'll be good."

Kitty was staring at the many cages filled with pets, already worlds away by the time Helen had managed to get Melissa to come along to the bank without a fuss. The eight year old did like to see the goblins working at the bank. These short and strange looking creatures fascinated her. Kitty was afraid of those magical creatures because of their strictness. She was happy to stay at the pet shop rather than to go to the bank.

Kids were poking fingers into cages, and people were milling all about. The sound of chatter filled Kitty's ears but somehow, her attention fell on two young, redheaded boys. Their hair was a strange dark red she'd never seen before, and they were extremely tall, even though they seemed to be her age. Most boys her age that she'd met were short and rather chubby, but these boys were lanky. So, at least to Kitty, they seemed tall.

The two boys were staring at the most beautiful brown owl she'd ever seen. It flapped its grey-feathered wings in a sort of acknowledgment of the boys. She neared the cage, placing herself next to them, and listened to their conversation. Ever since her last intentional engagement of the Muggle children at the park, Kitty had become shy and rarely entered conversation with those she didn't know. But for some reason, she felt the urge to jump into the conversation, so she waited for her chance.

"Must be a girl," one of the boys said.

"Nah!" replied the other, "It's clearly a boy. Look at how proudly he's sitting!"

"Doesn't matter, we don't get a pet anyway. Percy has the family rat," grumbled the first.

Kitty saw her chance to jump in at this moment.

"I agree with it being a girl," she declared, and the boys jumped, looking around quickly until they noticed who was speaking.

The first boy smiled brilliantly at her, and she couldn't help but smile back, staring deep into his sweet brown eyes. In them she saw the two of them, older, but it was them; they were dancing. She blinked, having realized she was staring, and blushed. It was just like her future dreams, seeing things that hadn't happened. She would have thought it was just wishful thinking, but the boy blinked as well, running a hand nervously through his hair.

_ Did he see it too? _Kitty wondered.

She looked the boys over. They seemed to be wearing clothing slightly too large for them, like the hand-me-downs some of the children in her town wore. They appeared even larger because of the boys' lanky frames. Strangely, the second boy was holding a large gray rat, she assumed it was, "Percy's family rat," the first boy had spoken of. It was sleeping like a log in the second boy's hands. Even more strangely, they looked almost exactly the same, the same freckles, they both had smiling brown eyes, but something was different. They only looked almost exactly the same to her.

"Are you twins?"

"Maybe," the first said.

"Maybe not," the other shrugged.

"How would we know it's like looking into a mirror," they both finished.

Kitty laughed shaking her head. She ventured another question, feeling braver than she had in many years because of her Hogwarts letter. But also because of the first boy's welcoming smile.

"What are you going to do with the…rat?"

"Well," the second boy holding it replied, "We're hoping that mother will think Scabbers is lost forever and buy us a new pet."

"Probably won't happen, though," the first boy sighed.

"Are you going to school?" Kitty ventured another question.

"We're going to Hogwarts," the second boy holding the rat replied.

"Stir up some trouble," the first boy continued.

"Like we always do," finished the second.

"That's where I'm going too!" she exclaimed, then flushed.

She hadn't realized how loud she was and had attracted attention from the crowd. Kitty nervously played with the hem of her blue, long-sleeved shirt. She was glad she had managed not to wake the rat in the hands of the second boy.

"That was an explosion," the second boy smiled at the first boy who Kitty assumed was his brother.

"There will be a lot of that going on when we get there," the first boy nodded knowingly.

"I know a little bit about that! My dad blew up the trophy room. I can tell you how if you like?" Kitty smiled broadly.

The two boys were about to respond, their faces animated with excitement, when she heard a woman calling loudly for someone through the crowd of last-minute school shoppers. This was not uncommon, people had been calling each other in the crowd this whole time, but she noticed a reaction in her two new companions.

"Boys! Come here! You're not causing trouble again are you? Have you had Scabbers the entire time?!" the woman was fussing at the boys from across the crowd.

"We'll see you there then," the first boy spoke as they waved to Kitty, "We'll find you don't worry," the first boy finished as the two started walking away into the crowd.

"Sorry, we've got to go, it's just that mom gets a little excitable if we don't come when she calls!" the second boy called to her through the crowd.

Kitty just managed to see them walk to a short, plump woman in a dress with the same dark, red hair. She was rather disappointed with their short exchange, having hoped she would see more of the two. But perhaps she would run into them later as she continued to shop for her supplies? If they were Hogwarts students her age, surely they had the same list as she did.

"I didn't even get your names," she mumbled to herself as she turned to look at the owl again.

Its eyes met hers; they were pitch black, but Kitty saw something deep inside them, a sort of understanding. A light among the darkness. She felt as if the owl were looking straight into her soul. The owl nodded to her, as if accepting what it saw.

"You are a girl, aren't you?"

The owl replied with a soft coo as if to say yes. It sat upon its perch fluffing its feathers.

"I'll name you Mansha," Kitty told the owl and saw a new brightness in the owl's eyes, a glowing happiness.

"Is this the one you want?"

Kitty jumped at her mother's voice.

"Oh umm, yeah! Can I have her please?"

"Of course dear, your father did promise you an owl as your school present," her mother smiled and dug out some galleons from her purse; they bought Mansha at the counter inside before moving on to the rest of the shopping.

"Shall we get your school robes and wand after getting the smaller items?"

"Why not my wand and robes first?" Kitty was almost pouting, excited to have a wand, and hoping it would be as pretty as Helen's with leaves all over it.

"Because, my dear, it'll be too crowded. The others always shop there first so you'd have to wait in line anyway. My way you won't have to wait in line long, if at all."

Kitty sullenly agreed with her mother. It made sense, and she had no desire to wait in line, but she so desired a wand. The Habersnaps did not take their wands out at home often, living in a Muggle town, so it was always a treat when they did. Kitty almost felt like she lived more in the Muggle world than the magical one, because the few times she went with her mother to visit her father in the Ministry of Magic or go shopping, she was always surprised by things she'd never seen before. Desperately, Kitty wanted to be a witch, and the wand would seal the deal.

Finally, Kitty, with the help of her mother and sister, had gathered up all the little items Kitty would need for her first year at Hogwarts. The Habersnaps were rather well off, so Kitty had received the best of the items available at the various shops. Kitty was rather disappointed not to have run into the two boys she'd met earlier again, but now she was too excited about the imminent purchase of her school robes at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and picking her wand at Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Madam Malkin's shop was a cheery boutique with large windows in the front from which passersby could see the Madam fitting and hemming uniforms for those inside. Helen sent Kitty into the changing room after finding a basic black robe close in size. Kitty put it on and found the sleeves were far too long, but other than that her robe fit perfectly. She would still have to see Madam Malkin to have it pinned and fitted. Kitty emerged from the changing room and stepped onto one of the small circular platforms in front of the window. Her mother was discussing robe packages.

"Unlike other robe shops, we do the fittings and alterations for free," the stout, white-haired Madam Malkin was explaining, "the only payment is for the robe packages. Some include gloves and scarves for winter while other only include your house crest."

"And how does it work when we don't know the house yet?" Helen questioned.

"That's actually quite simple, as soon as houses are picked, I will be informed by the school as to the students who purchased packages from me and immediately finish and send out the products you ordered. Until that time you will only have the basic black robe, but the crest and other items will be mailed to you by the next evening after the Sorting."

Kitty knew what the Sorting was from stories at home. It was a special ceremony for the new students at Hogwarts to be placed into the house they fit into. Each house had different traits and they had separate crests and school colors. Kitty wasn't sure yet which house she would fit into but there were four: Slytherin for the ambitious, Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the intelligent, and Hufflepuff for the kind, but some said they were really for those who could not be placed in another house.

Madam Malkin cheerily approached Kitty, "I see the sleeves are not quite the right fit, but don't you worry I'll fix it right up."

As the blue-eyed witch pinned and folded over the sleeves of Kitty's robe, Madam Malkin chatted cheerfully. It was amazing that she could, considering that she had at least two pins between her lips at any given time while she worked. The pincushion was enchanted and floated idly next to the witch so she never ran out of her necessary items.

Kitty was behaving and holding still until she jumped at the sight of the two boys she'd met earlier. They were walking past with their mother, the short witch she'd heard calling them through the crowd, and a whole cast of other young children and older boys with the same deep red hair. Madam Malkin gripped her arm firmly.

"Now, dear, you've been so good until now, please keep holding still," she fixed Kitty with her blue eyes sternly, making her point.

"Sorry," Kitty muttered as she watched the pack of redheads walk away.

Soon after, Madam Malkin was done, and Kitty was sent to change out of the robe. She then gave the robe to the again cheery Madam Malkin who waved them off as they exited her shop.

"Don't worry I'll have your five basic robes mailed to you by the end of the week and your other items will be delivered as soon as you've been sorted," Madam Malkin called after the family of three as they left.

"But, I thought I only needed three robes, Mom," Kitty wondered aloud.

"Yes, but I thought it would be best to have a few extra, so you don't need to have your robes cleaned by the elves too frequently."

"There are elves?!" Kitty's jaw dropped to the cobblestone path of the alley.

"Of course, but you never see them. They prepare the meals in the kitchens as well. You drop your laundry down your Common Room's laundry chute, and it gets cleaned and returned to your room."

"How do they know what clothes is whose?" the bewildered girl asked.

"Magic, of course. Now let's retrieve your wand quickly, we've spent quite a while shopping already."

Kitty was a bundle of energy again, and she completely forgot about having seen the boys walking off. She would be going to get her wand now! Melissa was rather tired at this point from shopping all day and was helping Helen by carrying the small purse containing all of the items they had purchased already. There was an enchantment on the purse that made it appear small even though when you looked inside there was a large room in the purse.

Finally, the family approached Ollivander's Wand Shop, a small and dusty shop on the South Side of Diagon Alley. The large window had only one display, a wand placed on a pillow, and it was all covered in dust. Even the window was smudged and dirty, but Kitty didn't care. She was ecstatic. Melissa had grown so weary from their long trip she plopped down in a nearby bench.

"I'll wait out here with Melissa until you've found your wand," Kitty's mother instructed as she sat down next to Melissa, "It can get rather…messy."

Kitty didn't really care and was too excited to listen properly, running into the shop rather than walking. The interior of the shop was just as dirty and dusty as the outside. Wands and empty boxes were scattered everywhere. Kitty noticed an old man with grey hair and spectacles attempting to replace some of the boxes in empty shelf slots. The wand shop was rather like a strange library.

The old man turned to face her, "Ah, I see another young one has come for their first wand," he spoke in a strange whisper.

Kitty noticed that his eyes were milky white. She wondered if he was really able to see at all. The man simply stood there as if waiting for a reply.

"Yes…I am looking for my first wand," she responded, slightly frightened now, "Are you Mr. Ollivander?"

"That I am, but who are you?" he queried back.

"Kittianna Belle Malone," she responded, and a truly quizzical look crossed Ollivander's face.

"Malone…why you must not be from around here. I never outfitted a Malone with a wand before…what was your mother's maiden name?"

"Lusther," Kitty replied; Ollivander became even more confused.

"I never…" he finally said, "You're the first all new customer I've had in years. I'll have to start from scratch with you."

"Why's that?" Kitty asked confused.

"Well you see," Ollivander said as he took out a measuring tape from his desk, "most young witches and wizards take after the traits of their parents, which makes it easier for me if I outfitted their parents. Wands have a tendency to be quite picky by choosing their owner based on their traits. Which is your wand arm?"

Kitty raised her left arm and Ollivander began to measure her from elbow to fingertip, fingertip to wrist, wrist to palm, and so on. She didn't really understand it. After a moment a thoughtful look came upon the Wand Shopkeeper and he stepped away to his wand racks. The tape measure continued measuring Kitty all over.

"But don't you choose your own wand?" Kitty asked confused.

"That's just what people want to believe," Ollivander replied rather vaguely.

He snapped his fingers and the tape measure stopped its work, falling neatly to the ground by Kitty's feet. She watched as the old wand maker went through a pile of fallen wand boxes to pick up a dusty green one.

"Let's try this one, oak wood with a raven feather, rather flexible and about seven inches long," he mumbled words Kitty didn't really understand and handed her the box.

Kitty slowly removed the wand from the box. It was of a light brown color and very plain with a small circular knob at the end she held onto. Ollivander watched her. After a moment she tried to give it a flick and the tape measure flew up, hitting her on the cheek as though trying to slap her.

"Ouch," she whimpered.

"Well, obviously not quite right…though partially, certainly not completely wrong, no…" Ollivander muttered taking the wand back and laying it on his desk before finding something else. "How about this one," he pulled out a white wand with black stripes that ran in a corkscrew pattern from the bottom to the tip, "I know the bottom is a little strange in shape, but this is my first experiment with birch wood and unicorn hair. It's flexible and about nine inches long."

The bottom was a little strange. It was three black, circular bulbs with a strip of white between them. Kitty liked the way the wand looked and she took it from Ollivander hoping against all hope it would be hers. The wand felt cool to the touch at first but started to warm her fingers. She flicked it just once and a shower of brightly colored bubbles flew from the tip swirling around her. Kitty looked at the bubbles, trying to catch them, squealing with glee.

Ollivander chuckled at her, "That'd be the one, then."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three- This House, That House

Kitty spent many weeks in her room, reading textbook after textbook. She knew she would be that weird girl who had already been through all the lessons, but she was so excited to learn about the magical world, her world, the one she belonged in. It had been many years since she last spoke to the Muggle children in town, but now she no longer cowered when she saw them coming down the street. Kitty walked tall, because she meant something again, and soon she would be a witch.

Obviously she knew it would be seven long years before she could do what a full-grown witch or wizard could, but her hope kept her going. She had never been so happy, and there was a prospect out there for all new friendships and knowledge. Kitty loved knowledge; she was almost certain she'd be a Ravenclaw.

Her dreams came frequently and repetitively. Most nights she saw the smiling faces of the two boys. Along with that, she saw people that were slightly transparent, magical ghosts that talked and walked the halls of a place she'd never seen. The place had high ceilings and paintings hung on every wall. It was a beautiful place, and it felt like home. Kitty felt a strange connection to both the ghosts and the two boys. The image she'd seen in the first boy's eyes came to her also. They danced together under the stars.

The time got closer and closer to the 1st of September, which just so happened to also be Kitty's birthday, the same as the first day of school. This of course meant that all the celebrating had to be done before the next day. Kitty didn't mind, because she was too excited to see the twins again and to be a bigger part of her special world. Excitement kept her going. Most of her presents that evening were school related, special spelling quills and a beautiful parchment set so she could write home. With Mansha as her pet, writing home would be no trouble.

Melissa was not pleased that her sister was leaving without her. The young girl followed her sister almost everywhere constantly. She had done so since childhood, always taking her hints from Kitty. Melissa was unhappy that she could not go as well. Kitty was unable to pack her large trunk because Melissa would get upset that she couldn't come along, and Kitty did not like to see her sister so distraught. She ended up packing frantically the night before when Melissa had gone to bed.

Naturally, Kitty knew she would miss her family, and she would miss Melissa most of all. She also knew, though, that Melissa would have her own experience two years from now, and that she would see her family again after her year at Hogwarts, maybe even for the holidays if it was possible. The thing was, Kitty knew she was embarking on a long-awaited adventure and nothing would hold her back.

That night, Kitty found it hard to sleep. It was all so overwhelming. Four houses, a school year away from family, and most of all on her mind, would she see those boys again? At some point she must have fallen asleep, because the next morning her mother woke her for a big breakfast, her favorite yogurt with granolas, after which she got ready. She wanted to do something interesting with her hair, so she asked her mother to braid it for her. She politely obliged and then, Kitty was ready.

The family piled into the car all together and Melissa calmed down, accepting that her trip would come soon enough, but still unhappy. She helped Kitty pack the car, having accepted that Kitty would have to do this adventure without her, but that in a few years she would join in. The family drove all the way to London, as they always did when they went with Frank to work, but this time they were going to the train station.

Kitty had been to King's Cross Station to pick up friends of the Habersnaps on vacation before, but she'd never had to ride a train herself. She looked at her ticket and tried to make sense of it. At each station number she looked back to the other, getting more and more confused.

"Mom, I've never heard of Platform Nine and Three Quarters before, and I don't see any numbers other than counting numbers. Does it even exist?" Kitty looked up at her mother.

"Don't worry, it's there, you'll see," her father patted her shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

Kitty pushed her cart along proudly but blinked, stopping in her tracks. She saw the boys from the day before disappear into the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Magic?" she looked to her father who nodded in response moving her towards the barrier.

Kitty stood looking at the barrier for a moment. The two boys' family disappeared into the barrier as well. They simply walked right through it and disappeared. Kitty loved magic, even if she didn't always understand it.

"So, do I just walk into it?"

"Or run, it's your choice," her mother smiled, "Go ahead dear, we'll meet you on the other side."

After watching a few others pass through the barrier, Kitty decided to run through the barrier so as to avoid anything uncomfortable. Kitty closed her eyes tightly and started to run, bracing herself for impact or at the very least some weird feeling, like moving through water or something else she didn't care to think about. There was absolutely no sensation, as if she had just walked through a doorway, and Kitty heard a train whistle as she slowed to a stop. She opened her eyes and saw others putting suitcases onto the train. The train was long, beautiful, and red. It was so shiny that the lights overhead reflected off its frame.

Kitty smiled and thought, _magic_.

Her parents appeared a moment later with Melissa. They started loading Kitty's luggage onto the train and hugged her goodbye.

"Be good, and write us regularly. Or you can phone your father at his number in the Ministry if anything goes wrong," Helen fussed over her daughter, wiping a smudge from her cheek.

Frank awkwardly hugged Kitty, "I'll miss you my dear," he said. He was obviously sad but didn't know how to express his feelings other than by saying, "You know your mother and I love you."

Melissa started crying, "I wanna' go too!"

"In a few years, okay sis?" Kitty was the one fussing now and Melissa nodded and hugged her.

After breaking free of her sibling's hug, Frank gave Kitty a hand onto the train. She waved goodbye, and started the search for a seat. She wanted one by a window toward the platform, so she could wave goodbye. Kitty made her way along the aisle looking into a few cars with most of them being full of children she didn't know. It didn't take her too long to find the right car, though.

"Hey girl! It's you!" Kitty blinked at the familiar voice as she was looking into a car at the two boys from her shopping trip in Diagon Alley.

"Oh hello, you two!" she smiled sweetly, the freckles over her cheeks and nose seeming darker because she was blushing.

"You want to sit with us? I'd like to hear that story you were telling us about," she recognized this voice as the second boy.

"I'd love to!" she said hopping into the seat next to the first boy.

"So, we didn't catch your name last time. I'm Fred by the way, and my brother's name," his brother interrupted, "is George." the first one, now Fred, smiled.

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Kitty," the boys looked at each other.

"That's an interesting name," Fred thought aloud.

"Quite," agreed his brother.

"Does this mean you'd eat the family rat?" Fred smiled.

"Better yet, do you happen to have an owl, maybe it could eat Scabbers," George's face perked up.

"Sweet, maybe we can get a new pet!" Fred perked up as well.

Kitty laughed, giggling softly into her hand.

"What's funny?" they asked simultaneously.

"You're just silly is all," she smiled and they laughed too.

The train started to move so, just as all the other students, they stuck their heads out the windows and waved goodbye to their parents until they could no longer see the platform. Kitty's family became smaller and smaller until the train blew its whistle and turned along a corner. She felt slightly bereaved, but exhilarated sitting back down to look across at George and Fred next to her. His hair was ruffled and disheveled, while George's was just a little neater.

George noticed her looking, "Mom managed to get me with the comb before we got on," he explained.

The two boys began to explain all about their family. They lived in a tall hut they referred to as The Burrow. Both Fred and George seemed very close with their family and affectionate toward each member.

"Bill's the oldest one of us," Fred explained, "he's a Curse Breaker for Gringott's in Egypt. Rather a neat job really if you ask me. Finding mummies and magical treasures in the pyramids."

"Charlie's next," George continued, "graduated recently. He failed his Apparition test once, by the way, rather a funny story. He landed on a Muggle woman doing her shopping."

"Apparition?" Kitty wondered.

"Magical way to go from place to place," George began explaining, but Fred finished, "You move through space magically to another place. Very difficult trick really, you have to be licensed to do it."

"But anyway, Charlie studies dragons in Romania now. He always loved Care of Magical Creatures class," George told Kitty, "then there's our brother Percy."

"He'll be named a Prefect, you know the ones who keep us following the rules and such. It's his third year, he's around here somewhere with his friends, didn't want to sit with us."

"We'll never get that job," George chuckled.

"Too boring anyway, following the rules. We'd hate it. He won't be very happy with us at all. Hard to make us follow the rules," Fred said proudly, "he's been really stuck up for a long time, doesn't like our pranks much."

"I'd wonder why," Kitty mumbled, "is he the butt of them per chance?"

"Good guesser," Fred grinned and Kitty blushed.

"So are you next in line then?"

"Right you are, again, a good guess," Fred bumped her shoulder.

"Fred was born first and then me, April 1st you know."

"April Fool's Day, really?" Kitty asked and the boys nodded proudly in unison, "Are you the last then?"

"Not at all," Fred began, "We're a very large family," George finished.

"Who's next?"

"Little brother Ron. He's a good sport, follows us around a bit too much though," George stretched and placed his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, but he's not all bad."

"My sister does the same thing, Little Melissa is a sweetheart all the same."

"She's your only sibling?" Fred inclined his head.

"That she is. She'll be coming to Hogwarts in two years, which is great because I'm going to miss her. We're not really related though, she was adopted when I was young."

"An adopted sibling is still a loving one," Fred comforted and George agreed.

"We've only got one sister, too. She's the youngest right after Ron," George smiled happily, perhaps with a look of pride.

"Yep," Fred said with the same look, "Little Ginevra, we call her Ginny. She's a family jewel that one. Very open and honest, and extremely susceptible emotionally. It's easy to make her laugh, but just as easy to make her cry, sadly," Fred muttered sadly towards the end.

"Your family sounds lovely," Kitty said with a twang of sadness.

Kitty loved her family, but she would do anything to have spent her years with her birth parents. She would give almost anything to have had a big family like the Weasleys had. There was nothing quite like the love they seemed to have for each other.

"What house do you want?" Fred asked munching on some Slithering Gummy Snakes.

The trolley had just come by and Kitty had bought some treats with the money her mother had given her, leftovers from shopping. The Snakes were her personal favorite since they were enchanted to hiss at people, and this entertained her. Fred and George seemed to be very fond of them also.

The two hadn't had any money of their own. When the trolley pulled up, the two had silently retrieved bagged sandwiches. Kitty assumed from their hand-me-down and ill-fitting clothing that the Weasleys were not particularly well off. It made sense with so many family members, but at least they were happy. She decided to buy her new friends their own pack of her favorite sweets.

"I honestly don't know. Mom told me to let the sorting ceremony decide."

"Gryffindor is the house for us, the house of the brave!" George exclaimed.

"Also the house of our family," Fred finished.

"Wow that's neat, I think the Habersnaps were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"The Habersnaps, you call your parents by their last name?" Fred asked, a confused look on his face.

"Well, my parents were killed when I was just a baby, so I was adopted by their best friends. Helen and Frank are simply wonderful, we're a self-created family really, not just Melissa," Kitty explained.

"Oh," George said, "I'm sorry...How were they killed? If you don't mind my asking."

"We don't mean to be insensitive bothers," Fred agreed.

"Not at all, I was told they were killed by Voldemort's followers at our home, but they spared me." Kitty was surprised neither boy winced at the mention of his real name.

Most magical people did, because of the terrible things he had done. The only reason Kitty didn't was because of Frank's vehement refusal not to give in to the use of Voldemort's nicknames. The twins simply nodded and offered their condolences.

"The Lord Moldybutt sure was a nasty fellow," Fred said seriously.

"Lord Moldybutt?!" Kitty giggled.

"Yep, and that Harry Potter kid is some kind of hero. Without even having known it," George said.

"Yeah, if I ever meet him, I'll hug him first thing," Kitty smiled, trying to imagine what the Potter boy looked like, "but I suppose I might never, no one knows where he is."

"That's true, some say he was sent to America or some other place," George nodded.

"You know, we've done a terrible job of getting to know you," Fred frowned suddenly, "we didn't ask you for your full name. I assume Kitty is a nickname?"

"Oh, Kittianna, Kittianna Belle Malone."

"That's rather a strange combination," George said with a small chuckle.

"Well my mother was a Russian, by the name of Latsia Lusther, one of the Russian pureblood families. She met my father, an American pureblood from the Malone family named Andrew, at a World Cup game. Sadly, father lost out on the name game so I've been saddled with a strange name," Kitty became more and more red as she shared.

"I like it, Kittianna," Fred smiled and Kitty blushed even harder.

"Kitty, please," she mumbled and the boys laughed then a blond girl with a badge carrying the letter "P" appeared in the hall.

Kitty knew this stood for Prefect after the explanation of the twins, the older students who keep the other students in line and following the rules. The Prefect walked down the aisle saying to put on their school robes, because they would be arriving soon. Kitty changed in a different compartment before returning to talking with the boys.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" a loud, booming voice called out over the crowd of students in robes.

The trio stumbled their way to a large man in a fur coat. He looked like a giant; his long, matted mane of dark hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in years. The large man had a long dark beard as well, it was also matted, and it looked like there were things wiggling in the pockets of his fur coat. Kitty liked him; he seemed like a kind man despite his large size. Some of the other students shied away from him.

The older students began to move their luggage off the train. Kitty began to worry about her luggage and Mansha, who had been sitting in a luggage compartment the whole time. The first year compartment was toward the front of the train, and she'd have to run to retrieve her beloved owl before the train took off.

"Alrigh' firs' years, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, jus' call me Hagrid of cour'. We're gon' head over to the boats. Now don' worry abou' yer luggage, that'll be moved upen' to yer rooms by magic. So les' go," the giant, now Hagrid, proclaimed.

Kitty tried her best to stay close to the twins as the group moved, following Hagrid down to the water. There were about thirty or forty young people in their group, all mashing together so as not to get lost. First the group was led along a dark shady path to the bank of a lake. It was filled with boats and the first years were asked to take a seat.

The nervous youngsters sat four to a boat, Kitty next to Fred and George next to a dark-skinned girl she didn't know. The boats surged forward over the smooth dark water, through magic naturally. Soft waves lapped the boats, and they huddled close in the cold night. Kitty worried the boats would tip over.

"Welcome ta 'ogwarts!" boomed Hagrid's deep voice as an amazing view opened up before them.

They were all amazed by what they saw. In front of them over the smooth, black lake stood a large, medieval style castle on top of a rocky mountainside. The windows looked like fireflies floating before their eyes in the spring. Kitty felt an odd security looking at the great castle. There was a bump as they hit the shore on the other side; startled, she grabbed Fred's hand.

"Don't worry, you're fine," he smiled.

She found herself staring into his eyes again, seeing them laughing and holding hands before she snapped back to the present. Fred blinked at her just as he had the first time she'd looked deep into his eyes. Kitty truly wondered if she had gained some new talent. This worried her a bit, but there was not much time to ask Fred if he'd seen anything too.

Hagrid mushed the group into the castle and up the large marble steps to a high door, which opened for him slowly with cranking noises as bolts unsnapped. There were moving paintings all over the walls as the group entered the castle, some even waved to the first years as they passed. The paintings were just like magical photographs, they moved just as the person would have if they were really there. Kitty laughed happily with the twins as they saw a group of jesters waving and performing tricks for the new arrivals.

A tall, stern-faced, older woman stood at the top of a large set of stairs as the first years fully entered the hall. Her dark, black hair was pulled into a tight bun on the top of her head. She wore a robe of deep emerald, the cloth shining dimly in the light. Her eyes looked them over as she gave them their instructions, her voice warm yet obviously strict.

"I am Professor McGonagall, welcome to Hogwarts," as she spoke she led them through another set of large, intricately carved doors in front of them.

She led them to the front of an expansive hall with tables along the sides, the students looking up at the ceiling. The ceiling showed a starry night sky, in fact, it looked so much like the real sky it was hard to believe the hall had a ceiling at all. It was enchanted, and Kitty thought it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Her thoughts returned to the woman leading them as she began to instruct the students.

"When I call your name, you will come forward, place the sorting hat upon your head, and sit on the stool. There are four houses you can be sorted into. They are: Gryffindor for the brave; Hufflepuff for the loyal, kind, and hardworking; Ravenclaw for the wise; and Slytherin," she paused slightly, "for the ambitious."

When the professor finished her instructions there was a nervous silence in the hall. The students shuffled their feet and Kitty instinctively moved closer to Fred and George. There was a nervous feeling in the air itself as the first years wondered about their future houses and new adventure.

"The older students should be arriving any moment now, so please make yourselves…presentable," the stern professor looked deliberately at the few students, including the twins with their disheveled hair.

The twins ran their hands through their hair, and Kitty noticed many of the girls frantically trying to brush the knots from theirs with their fingers. She was glad her own hair was in a braid.

The professor spoke up again, "As Head of Gryffindor house I would, of course, like to see all of you within its Common Room walls. However, whatever house you find yourself sorted into, I wish you good luck and good studies."

The hall filled up pretty quickly after the professor finished her talk. As Professor McGonagall unrolled her scroll, the whole hall fell silent, and they stared at the hat she had placed on the stool, as if expecting something to happen. Kitty herself began to stare and was amazed when the hat moved, a large stitch along the brim opening to form a gaping mouth. The hat started to sing.

Welcome to Hogwarts,

To another year,

You'll learn quite a bit,

If you lend professors an ear,

But first you must be sorted,

That's what I'm here for,

So listen when I call out,

The house to be your home!

When the hat was done, Kitty was even more nervous. The elder students surrounding the group clapped for the song. Kitty shuffled her feet more and thought for sure she was turning green.

"Whatever happens, "George whispered and Fred finished, "we stay together."

Kitty took their hands squeezing them lightly, and they waited to be called forward. She was thankful for their comfort, as small as it was. The two were the best friends she'd ever had.

"Cromwenth,Thomas," Professor McGonagall called out.

A lanky boy moved slowly toward the stool. He set the sorting hat on his brown curls and for several minutes he sat with the hat covering his light green eyes, since the hat was much too large brimmed to fit. Then the hat called out, "Gryffindor!"

"Foxworthy, Mimi"

A small girl sat under the hat for about ten seconds before the hat decided, "Ravenclaw!" Five more students went before the first of the trio. This included the dark-skinned girl George had sat next to on the boats whose name was Angelina Jones.

Fred was called up first of the three. Before the sorting hat had really touched his head it shouted, "Gryffindor!" George went up directly afterwards, and again, without touching his head it shouted, "Gryffindor!"

As each house was declared, their set of tables would stand and clap, welcoming the new member to their table. Now that she was alone, Kitty worried she would be sorted into a different house, away from her friends. She didn't much want to go to Ravenclaw house anymore, despite that she thought she'd fit in there. Kitty had made her first friends ever besides her family, and that was all she'd ever wanted.

"Wybenthal, Shana," a sweet looking girl with brown curls and brown eyes hopped onto the stool and was sent to Gryffindor and was closely followed by a slightly chubby blond, "Sherstein, Crystal."

The group became smaller and smaller, until Kitty was completely alone. Kitty nibbled her lip shuffling her feet again, looking over at the twins. Fred sent her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up, which, although comforting, worried her even more that she'd be sent away from them. She twirled the end of her braid around her finger.

"Malone, Kittianna," the professor called out, as she folded up her scroll.

Kitty stepped forward; she heard snickers at her name, which put her even more on edge. She put on the sorting hat and seated herself on the stool. Kitty could smell the old leather of the hat, feeling how wise and powerful this magical object was. She reached up brushing the brim of the hat feeling how soft the aged leather was, worn down over the years. Then, she heard a gruff voice speaking in her mind.

"Quite the mind I see, but I surely don't think Slytherin or Hufflepuff would do you much good. Though you are very loyal and certainly kind and hardworking. Hmm, maybe Gryffindor, but still you're pulling me toward Ravenclaw. Not exactly the courageous type from what I can see in your past, though a few times certainly."

_Please_ Kitty thought as hard as she could, hoping it would hear her _please send me to Gryffindor with my friends! I've never had friends before…_she confided in the Sorting Hat, hoping that it cared about her opinion.

"Well then, since you asked so nicely," it said to her in her mind, "You do deserve friendship after all; you're very special."

The hat then shouted to the whole assembly, "Gryffindor!"

She was in disbelief. The hat had given her exactly what she'd asked for, and she would be in the same house as her friends. There was no greater happiness in Kitty's mind than this outcome. Kitty removed the hat, placing it neatly on the stool, and hopped to the spot Fred had saved for her, just in case she was picked for Gryffindor. The hat quickly returned to its floppy state, its mouth disappearing, and its job over for another year.

"Glad you made it," Fred said into her ear over the clapping and welcoming she was receiving.

"Hello there, I'm Ronda Evanson, the Head Girl," an older student said, shaking Kitty's hand, she had mousy brown hair and sandy hazel eyes, "Welcome to Gryffindor." The girl explained, "I'll be in charge of your side of our house so come to me if you need anything. You know, it's interesting they didn't call you all out in alphabetical order this year. I don't fully understand it."

"Perhaps the quill that writes names of magical children born or moved to England or Scotland needs to be recharmed?" a male student, bearing the Prefect badge responded.

Everyone suddenly fell silent just as Ronda was going to reply as a tall, older gentleman stood from his seat at the middle of the table situated at the front of hall. He wore a long purple robe and he had alligator boots. He was Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster.

"First off, I would like to say a few words so we can eat. Cheerio old chap, stiff upper lip! Let's eat."

The whole hall laughed, and before Kitty realized what had happened, there was an amazing array of foods before her, on the plates that had just been empty. She stared at the food; there were things of all kinds. Mashed potatoes next to oozing vats of gravy, ham covered in a honey glaze, even sweetened chicken breast.

Kitty looked around as she was eating with the twins, talking excitedly with the other new recruits. The entire hall was full of people. At the head table, the professors and Dumbledore were seated discussing and eating. Kitty had seen this in one of her dreams. Suddenly there was a loud outburst, as though a window were breaking. All the first years turned and stared.

A group of headless, milky white figures seated on similarly colored horses had come through a window. The window wasn't broken, though. Kitty recognized them immediately from her dreams as a host of other ghosts arrived. She was fascinated, and a few of the ghosts began to speak to the other students. Suddenly, a curly-haired head popped out between the twins' plates.

"Hello there, Sir Mimsy Porpington at your service," the ghost declared, merrily pulling his head to one side as though tipping a hat.

He was headless, well nearly headless. A single strip of skin connected his head to his neck and kept the body part attached. Sir Mimsy Porpington had dark bags under his eyes, but a rather handsome face. He had a big smile as he greeted the first years, taking a particular interest in the Weasley twins because of their name. Kitty knew this ghost from stories of the Habersnaps, and this was Nearly Headless Nick the Gryffindor house ghost.

As Nick spoke with the twins, Kitty looked around. She noticed the other ghosts from her dreams and from the Habersnaps' stories. Someday, she thought, she'd catalog these ghosts in a booklet. She didn't exactly know why she wanted to; it just felt right.

After having been sorted into their houses, all the first year Gryffindors went with the Head Boy and Girl to the common room. Everyone was stuffed with the feast and tired from the day's excitement, but watching the changing staircases reawakened the group. The Common Room for Gryffindor was up in a tower and could be entered from the Seventh Floor by a painting. The Gryffindor entrance used passwords said to a painting of an opera singer in a pink dress. She was quite a bit snooty in Kitty's opinion. Apparently they called her the "Fat Lady;" it made sense since she was quite large.

"Oh, hello, my new dears!" the woman cried out as though trying to sing.

"Schwarma," Ronda said to the painting.

"Oh, come now, I wanted to greet the new ones…" the Fat Lady pouted, but she opened herself.

The painting swung forward, nearly knocking a few of the first years off their feet. Behind the painting was hidden a large circular tunnel. This would lead them inside to the Common Room.

When they entered the Common Room they found their luggage placed neatly in the middle of the large room. It was covered in various flags and banners representing Gryffindor, with large red curtains over the huge windows. The whole room was rounded which made sense considering the room's position in a tower. The red velvet chairs placed inside the room looked to be quite comfy, and Kitty noticed there was a chess set sitting by one of the windows. A large chalkboard was also placed in the room. Kitty could see a number of papers posted on the board.

The students began to pick up their luggage and were instructed that the dormitories for girls and boys were opposite of each other up the stairs. There were four beds in each room, except for in one girls' room and one boys' room. These rooms each had three beds. The students then rushed up the stairs as fast as they could, dragging their heavy suitcases up along with them. The rooms were, after all, first come, first serve.

The staircase to the girls' dormitories was rounded, and each landing had two rooms on it. The rooms toward the bottom were empty, so Kitty chose the lowest room. It was the room with only three beds. It seemed that favor was being given to the higher rooms with the extra bed. After placing her luggage, Kitty went up the stairs to see if the older students would have rooms considering that at least two or three rooms had been needed for the new girls. On the third landing she saw that the room had a nameplate on it, bearing the names of the students assigned to that room.

Kitty made her way back down to the Common Room to see if the twins were there. She wanted to say goodnight. On her way down she met her new roommates. Shana was very energetic, thin like a toothpick. She had brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her curls reached just past her cheeks. Crystal was much different. She was slightly chubby and short. Her short, blonde hair matched her sweet blue eyes very well. The girls were all quite excited and greeted each other kindly. Though, for some reason Kitty felt uncomfortable around Shana.

Their room was well furnished. The large sky beds had red and yellow curtains hanging from the side, which one could close in case she wanted to have privacy. There was a large castle style window by the bed farthest from the door, which Kitty happily chose. By the side of each bed there was also a small table on which they could put their things. After checking out her room and greeting the girls, Kitty went down to meet up with the twins.

"You like your roommates, boys?" Kitty asked as she approached the two.

"Well just one, the boy Thomas, we got the first landing with three beds," Fred answered.

"Me too," Kitty replied, "Shana and Crystal, they seem pleasant."

"Well that's good," George nodded.

"So what exactly are you planning?" Kitty noticed the two boys were carrying a knapsack.

"We want to explore, just a little bit," Fred said beginning to open the knapsack, "You want to come along?"

"Come along where," a strong voice called out to them, and Ronda began to approach, "First years are not allowed to exit the Common Room the first night, as they have no idea how to find their way around yet."

"But we have a map!" Fred protested, retrieving a paper with a makeshift map on it in messy handwriting.

"Give me that," Ronda grumbled snatching the paper, "Where did you get this?"

"Our brother Charlie," George replied.

"Well then…I'm going to confiscate this until I've decided it doesn't travel to any restricted areas," Ronda replied.

"But that's our map," Fred groaned in unison with George.

"Well it's mine for the time being. It won't help you any tonight anyway, as you aren't allowed to leave without guidance this evening. I suggest you go to bed," Ronda gave them each a pointed look, including Kitty; though, her look softened to a smile; Kitty hadn't done anything after all.

"Spot of rotten luck," Fred grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Fred and George," Kitty replied.

"It's alright, we'll have to explore another time," George reasoned.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four- The Peeves Encounter

The next morning all the students were surprised, since it was a Friday and their first day at Hogwarts, to see the new post on the chalkboard. Their classes had been posted. They would start today. For some, like the twins, this was a great disappointment and ruined another hope to simply explore.

Each class had its classroom posted next to it. All first years were to take Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Flying lessons. Of all of these, Kitty was most interested in History; the textbook had delighted her when she'd read it at home. She studied the class list carefully.

"First Years Class List

Transfiguration: Thursday (second period) Classroom 1B with Professor McGonagall

Charms: Tuesday (first period) and Thursday (first period) Classroom 2E with Professor Flitwick

Potions: Monday (first period) Wednesday (first period) and Friday (first and second period) Hogwarts Dungeons with Professor Snape

History of Magic: Monday (second period) Classroom 4F with Professor Binns

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Monday (second period) Classroom 3C with Professor Tinus

Astronomy: Wednesday (Midnight) highest level of the Astronomy Tower with Professor Sinistra

Herbology: Wednesday (second period) greenhouses with Professor Sprout

Flying: Saturday (6 p.m.) Training Grounds with Madam Hooch"

Their first class ever was Potions with Professor Snape and the Slytherins. They'd take this class for twice as long as other classes, so the students were allowed to work on simple potions their first day. Kitty quickly found out this would be one of her least favorite classes. The subject itself, learning the correct way to brew potions using specific recipes and magical ingredients, was fascinating. The teacher and classroom, however, were rather frightening.

The room was square sized, with large worktables. The Gryffindors sat closely together. This only made it easier for Professor Snape, a black-eyed, and black-haired man with a pointed nose, to pick the Gryffindors out for his griping. His hair was rather greasy and to his chin. Even his voice was distasteful, rather snide and cold, constantly speaking in favor toward the Slytherins, his house, and constantly trying to take points from the Gryffindors.

The twins were a bleed of points here, being silly and playing with ingredients. Snape developed distaste for them immediately. No one seemed to mind from the Gryffindor group, though, as the twins amused them.

"You know, Snape is rather a baby," Fred elbowed Kitty gently as she worked on cutting a mouse-tail.

"Why's that?" she asked, still staying concentrated on her work.

"He's been begging for Defense Against the Dark Arts for years, but never gets the position."

"Dad says he was a Death-Eater in the war but turned to the good side, though some don't fully believe that," George said tossing an egg at the back of a Slytherin student's head, but missing and hitting Snape's shoes instead.

"That'll be twenty points for your foolishness, Weasley," Snape snarled.

Kitty thought she saw something sad in his eyes, some hidden story deep down. A scene began to play in those dark depths, a boy with dark messy hair, hanging him upside down using magic, a girl with red hair running over calling for it to stop. Fred elbowed her.

"What are you staring at him for?"

"Hoping he'll burst into flames?" George chuckled.

"Maybe something like that," Kitty grinned at them noncommittally, her mind on the scene in Snape's eyes.

Snape gave her a strange look and went to the stone basin by the class entrance. There he washed George's thrown egg off his shoes. This basin was the same one the students used to wash their hands before class. Kitty wondered if he also knew what she'd seen.

Kitty had never flown before and was eager to do so on Saturday before dinner. Each student was sent to a little shed at the Quidditch Pitch to retrieve a broom. The brooms were rather gnarled and old, some with missing bristles and others with splinters. Kitty and the twins managed to get a hold of some rather decent ones.

Madam Hooch was strict and ordered the students not to try to fly until after she had given them instructions on how, "I don't care how much you've flown at home," she called out, "here you will learn proper technique before attempting it."

Her bright yellow eyes were striking and her grey spiked hair gave her the appearance of a lioness. None of the students were interested in crossing her. One wrong move and she might just snap your neck for dinner.

When the students were finally allowed to swing their legs over their brooms and go to the height of ten feet, Kitty could hardly contain her joy. Her feet dangled over the ground, and she closed her eyes reveling in the light breeze and the sensation of weightlessness. She was disturbed from her moment of joy by Fred.

"Don't get too carried away, Kit, you're going to end up in trouble with the lioness."

Kitty opened her eyes, surprised that his voice sounded as though it was below her. It was a bit of a shock to see she was floating steadily higher above him. She focused on lowering herself and managed to do so just as Madam Hooch was turning around to look her way after helping another student who still couldn't understand how to hover.

Kitty smiled sheepishly at Fred, "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," Fred grinned and winked, "I can only ask the same in return."

The trio spent their Sunday rather lazily on the green outside near the lake. There was an octopus of some sort living in it, so the twins delighted in throwing stones into the lake for the octopus to catch and throw back. Ronda had delivered them their map after close examination. Some parts of the map had been erased by the Head Girl, irking the twins, so it was decided they would explore inside after lunchtime to hopefully recover the missing pieces.

As Kitty followed the twins from hallway to hallway she kept encountering ghosts around each corner. She was more fascinated by these images of people who had passed than by the secret passageways the twins showed her. There was something about them. By the time the group had explored the map halfway, they were rudely interrupted, however.

"What's this here?" a cackling voice called out.

The trio looked around. There was nothing to be seen and no one on the third floor landing with them in front of a painting of one of the founders of Hogwarts. Kitty looked at the paintings surrounding them, thinking perhaps one of the subjects inside had been the one to call out, but she found nothing.

"No one here but you chickens, and me I suppose," the voice called out again, "but am I really here?"

"Who's there?" Fred called back to the voice, "We're not afraid of you."

"Oh but you should be, you should be," the voice hissed.

Above on the fourth floor landing, more accurately floating in front of it, Kitty saw a ghost. He was tall and rather handsome in appearance. He had thick, dark colored curls and appeared to be of noble dress. At first, she was afraid, thinking the voice had come from this noble-looking ghost, but quickly she noticed he was just as frightened as she was. She clung to Fred and mouthed the word help to the ghost. He immediately took off, taking off his head as he went. Kitty nearly cried out after him to give him the message again. She hoped he was going for help.

"What do we do?" she whispered to the twins.

"Don't worry," George mumbled and Fred finished, "We think we know who he is."

"Do you now?" the laughing voice boomed, "Then just who might I be?"

"Peeves the Poltergeist," Fred and George called out, their voices seeming like a challenge.

"You are smart ones aren't you," the voice said, as if it was pleased.

Before their eyes a short, ghost-like shape began to appear. He had been cloaking himself until now, and Kitty was not all that happy to see him uncloaked. The specter had thick dark hair and orange eyes that glowed menacingly. His skin was almost pure white, whiter than the other ghosts she had seen around the castle, then again he was a poltergeist and not a ghost. Though, Kitty neither knew what that meant nor what difference it made.

"So what have you here?" the voice cackled again, ripping the map away from George's hands, "A little map, pretty extensive map it seems. What would you need this for, little firsties?"

"Just to explore is all," Fred replied, standing tall.

He took Kitty's hand, and she realized she'd been shaking in fear. Just then the noble ghost she'd seen from before reappeared and she recognized the other ghost he'd brought along. The Bloody Baron, ghost of Slytherin house, clearly recognizable by the silver spots of blood staining his clothes sparkling and dark sad eyes, came through the wall the young noble ghost had led him through.

"What are you up to Peeves?" the Baron's voice boomed loudly at the poltergeist.

"Oh nothing, your Baron-ness," Peeves bowed several times as he spoke, "just a spot of fun with some new firsties is all."

"Horace here woke me from my nap, you know," the Baron indicated the young noble ghost who gulped.

"I apologize deeply for disturbing your slumber, My Lord, I shall cease and desist immediately, your Baron-ness," Peeves sniveled, bowing again.

"See to it that you do."

The Baron floated off slowly through the wall he'd come from with the noble ghost. Peeves looked after him, fear evident on his face. The young noble ghost, Horace, stood with his head in his hands, literally holding it in front of his stomach, waiting for Peeves to disappear.

"Well then, I shall have to leave you, but this isn't over my little friends," Peeves said, before looking to the map he still held in his hands, "Won't need this anymore will you?"

As Peeves began to disappear his fingers started tearing the map to shreds. Only his hands remained visible until the map was completely torn apart. The twins gaped as tiny pieces of paper floated past the staircase to the halls below. Kitty patted them on the back before turning to Horace, who had floated down to the third floor landing.

"Thank you for helping us," she said kindly, reaching her hand out as though to shake his hand, "I'm Kitty."

"Horace of Edmonton, at your service," the ghost bowed and took her hand.

Kitty felt a shudder as his hand passed directly through hers. It was as if someone had dumped cold water all over her. The ghost sheepishly took his hand away.

"I apologize, it has been some time since I was among the company of the living," he declared, bowing his head sadly.

"Thanks none the less for the rescue," Fred finally spoke, having recovered from the loss of his map.

"It's too bad about your map, but I can offer you a service in exchange for its loss," Horace suggested.

"You already have done us a service," George reminded and Fred finished, "You saved us from the terror of Peeves, remember?"

"That I did, but I can only do so little. Only the Baron and Headmaster Dumbledore can control Peeves. Only one trio of students has ever befriended him, a particularly good group of prankster. They went by the names of Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs. There was a Wormtail as well, but he was weak and Peeves recognized it easily. That was years ago from what I heard. They were another generation"

"Well that's another service you've done us," Fred and George grinned answering simultaneously.

"What's that?" Horace asked surprised.

"Pranksters," George said with Fred finishing, "Meaning if we show him what big pranksters we are we'll befriend him too!"

"That is a dangerous task my friends, you'd have to do something rather large to control one such as Peeves. On another note, why would you want to?"

"One never knows what allies may come in handy in the future, Horace," Fred reasoned.

"I suppose I shall have to give you that one, but I'm not so sure you can gain the Poltergeist's affections."

"They can do it," Kitty smiled at Horace, "trust me."

The ghost placed his head back onto his neck, "I shall have to, I suppose. Still, I offer you help in navigating the castle, should you so desire."

"We greatly appreciate it," all three answered, and laughed at each other.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five- Ghostly Understanding

After Horace had shown them around the rest of the castle, the twins and Kitty were able to navigate the halls much more easily. They'd even learned of more portrait short cuts to make navigation of the castle much faster. The entire floor plan of the castle was strange and magical with moving staircases and hidden portals behind portraits. It was fascinating. Horace met up with the group often after classes or meals. This earned the group the title of ghost whisperers for a time.

Classes had begun again on Monday with Potions. Horace had shown the group a portrait that went directly from the Gryffindor tower's outer wall, next to the Fat Lady, to the Dungeons near the Slytherin's entrance. Apparently Gryffindors intending to wreak a little havoc on their rival house had created this shortcut. Of course, they had to be careful not to be caught by any Slytherins here, or they'd be turned in for trying to find the Slytherin Common Room, not that it would help anything, since they didn't know how to enter it, but still.

Using this short cut, the three were able to leave a little later for Potions class than the other students. This naturally sparked the interest of their classmates that the three didn't have to leave at the same time as the rest of them to get to the cold dungeons of the castle, but the twins reveled in the interest. Kitty thought they were the most social people she'd ever met.

Following Potions class, the trio had their first experience with History of Magic. If you could call it an experience at all. Kitty was extremely disappointed.

Before leaving them for their class Horace had told them, "Have fun, if you even can."

"What do you mean by that?" Kitty asked.

"You'll see, my friends."

The classroom was located on the first floor. It was a regular sized classroom with rows of desks and seats that curved to face and encircle the teacher's podium in the middle of the room. The walls were lined with old history books, most covered in dust from disuse, and Kitty could see a side room with a lock on it at the right of the room.

From the textbook, Kitty knew this year would be focusing on the Gargoyle Strike of 1911, Soap Blizzard of 1378, Werewolf Code of Conduct, Emeric the Evil, Uric the Oddball, Gaspard Shingleton, and Elfric the Eager. She had already read through each of the subjects and was excited for insight from the teacher. She'd never taken a traditional History class before, but her mother had taught her the basic history of the world through homeschooling with stories and use of a textbook. Kitty hoped this would be similar.

Professor Binns floated through the wall slowly as class was about to begin. Kitty was surprised to see that their professor was actually a ghost. She was amazed that a ghost could even be a teacher, and it was astounding to her, even the twins hadn't heard of this from their siblings and were surprised. She soon found out this wasn't all that interesting, though.

"Open your textbooks to page thirteen," Professor Binns droned monotonously and immediately began to read from the book, word by word.

Kitty found it hard to follow along and stay awake, so she watched the Professor as he spoke. He had obviously been balding when he was alive, and there was no sign from his appearance of foul play, unlike some of the other ghosts. Professor Binns kept his head down the entire time as he read from the textbook, his spectacles hanging forward on his nose. Since he was somewhat transparent, Kitty could see some of his books on the shelves through his body, which was rather uncomfortable.

Kitty soon noticed that every once in a while he would interject with a short lecture about the topic instead of simply reading from the book. He did this without raising his head, so it still seemed as though he was simply reading. These short lectures she was able to listen to without becoming drowsy, despite the Professor's monotonous and tired voice.

As Kitty looked at the Professor she felt his weariness. He seemed like an old man caught in an endless routine. She wondered at what his story might be and began to watch the page as he read to make notes of his small history lectures. Kitty doubted anyone else took notice of the added information because most of the students were either asleep or playing with their wands and other items. The twins had begun to snore, but Kitty managed to stay attentive, learning tidbits besides just what was in the books.

"How did you sleep?" Horace questioned as the trio exited Classroom 4F.

"Pretty well," the twins replied, their hair messy on one side from laying their heads on the desk.

"And you, Kitty?" Horace used his hand to tilt his head at her.

"I actually didn't," she smiled.

All three of her companions stared at her with gaping mouths.

"How in magic did you manage to stay awake?" Fred wondered.

"I took notes," she said showing them her textbook.

"You are an odd one, my dear," Horace smiled at her, leading them away to the great hall for food.

"Good day, Sir Horace," Nearly Headless Nick greeted the young ghost.

"Good day, Nick," Horace greeted in reply, "Listen, Nick, I've spoken with the leader of the Headless Hunt, but he is quite adamant that you still won't be allowed in. I apologize, I did my best, though he did say to try again next year."

"He always does," Nick frowned, a sad look in his dark circled eyes, "I can't help that my executioner didn't know how to do his job!"

"You certainly can't," Horace replied gently, reaching out to pat his fellow ghost.

It was strange to see Horace actually appear to touch something, as he always went through other things he touched. Kitty was fascinated that Nick did not seem to have the same reaction to a ghost's touch as others did, it was rather uncomfortable to be chilled to the bone, but apparently ghosts did not affect each other that way.

The Headless Hunt had a habit for turning down Nick to join the group, because he couldn't perform their stunts with his head still attached. Horace had only joined last year, and had tried to put in a good word. He was excellent at Headless Polo and Head Juggling on horseback. Kitty honestly understood why the Hunt would turn Nick down, but it was a thorn in his side. She thought they should just make him an honorary member to make him feel better.

Nick nodded sadly to the trio, his head falling and lolling to the side by its strip of skin, and bid them good day, floating on his way. The trio continued their walk. Horace, Kitty had noticed, tried to have the appearance of walking from time to time by moving his legs when he floated from place to place. This fascinated her.

"Come along to food, Kitty," Fred tugged her arm as they neared the Great Hall; he was obviously hungry.

"You two go ahead," she urged both of the clearly ravenous from their nap twins, "I'd like to ask Horace a few things."

"Suit yourself," the twins replied, practically running to the Great Hall's entrance, excited for food.

"What do you need, Kitty?" Horace questioned her as she took a seat on a nearby bench, and he floated into a seated position next to her.

He was just far enough away that he wasn't touching her. For that, Kitty was grateful. Even from this distance she could feel the cold emanating from his slightly transparent figure. She rubbed her right arm to keep warm.

"I was wondering about ghosts, Horace."

"Oh dear, did one of your relatives die?" Horace asked with a look of pure fright.

"No! Dear goodness, no, why would you think that?" Kitty asked.

"I was warned by the other ghosts when I came here," Horace said, breathing a sigh of relief, "It's a common question we're faced with when family members of the students die. They want to know what happens after death, and whether their family member will become a ghost, mostly if they'll ever see them again."

"I see," Kitty thought aloud, "that would certainly be a question for a ghost."

"That it is," Horace chuckled, his head tilting slightly, seeming as though it would fall off. Horace reached up to steady his head on his neck, "What was your question then?"

"Well mostly I wonder about everything to do with ghosts. How they're still here, if they can leave Hogwarts, why they're in Hogwarts in the first place, their stories…"

"That's a lot of questions. Let me answer a few of those for you. Ghosts certainly do have stories from when they were alive and from since they became a ghost. It is, however, very rude of me to tell you someone else's story. Though, ghosts find great pride in telling you the story of how they died, normally anyway."

"I see…"

"As for why we're here. The simple fact is, that we were afraid to die, afraid to reach out to oblivion. Most of the ghosts in this castle were executed, do you know why that is?"

Kitty shook her head and Horace answered, "When you're being executed, you have time to think of the oblivion, but only a short and terrifying time to contemplate that you are dying. You do everything you can to get out of it. As such, you try to reach out to the world and stay in it. That's how you become a ghost."

"But why Hogwarts? I've never seen a ghost anywhere else, though I have heard of them in other places."

"Well, I'm only a recent member of the Hogwarts ghosts."

"How does that work? Haven't you been…uh, dead…for a long time? You're obviously a noble from a long time ago right, and I'm sorry I'm being rude aren't I?"

"Not at all, my friend," Horace reached out as though to pat her shoulder, but decided against it, "I'll tell you my story, the whole story.

"I was born to a noble family in Edmonton, a place in upper England, in 1585. My family was rich, but my father died soon after, and only my mother and I were left, besides the servants. When I was twenty, my mother became deathly ill; sadly, I was in town at the time the illness struck her. A servant was sent immediately to fetch me, but when he arrived the horse was fatigued to death. Unable to find another way, since I'd left my wand stupidly at home, I stole a horse off a nearby nobleman, he was rather a distasteful fellow, but I was sure he would understand, and I assured the stable boy I would return the horse upon my mother's death or wellness again.

"Sadly, this horse died of fatigue also, the town was rather far away from our fortress. My mother also passed away. In grief, I was unable to return to the village for some time. When I finally did return, I brought enough money to pay for the horse I had taken. The nobleman I'd thought would have been reasonable with me, refused the money, saying the horse was invaluable, and sent me to the Queen's Guard of the town. I was put to death, and my fortune was given to the man I'd wronged.

"This seemed to please him, but not enough to drop his charges against me. He was an evil man, we'd all known he was not the kindest, but I could not understand such injustice. As a twenty year old, young man I naturally was not prepared for death. In May of 1605, the axe man chopped off my head, and I clung to life.

"I appeared soon after my death in my home fortress. All my servants were gone, and no one came to the house. It had been cleared of all its valuables. For many years I wallowed there in despair and sadness, until a group of people came to tear down the ruins of the old fortress. I decided I'd have to find a new home, and so I moved to Hogwarts, my alma mater as it were. There was no other magical place I could think of that I'd visited in my life."

"Why did you have to have visited it in your life?" Kitty interrupted.

"As an imprint on the Earth, we can only appear in places we've been before."

"That's why you can't enter the Gryffindor Common Room!" Kitty exclaimed, "You weren't a Gryffindor."

"Indeed, I was a happy Hufflepuff," Horace grinned, "Does that answer your questions?"

"Yes, just one last thing."

"What's that?" Horace queried.

"Do you think the ghosts here would mind sharing their stories, so I could write a history book on them?"

"You know I don't think most of them would mind at all," Horace smiled, "That's a fabulous idea."

"Will you help me find the ghosts of the castle?"

"Absolutely, my friend."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six- Peeved

Kitty and the twins followed the crowd of other Gryffindor first years to the Charms room, easily found on the third floor in the Charms Corridor. Horace had decided to begin questioning ghosts as to whether or not they would like to be a part of Kitty's project, so they had to found their way without him. It also meant they didn't see him most days, because there were so many ghosts in the huge castle. Thankfully, the trio was able to navigate short cuts and hidden chambers without their map, because Horace had helped show them around the building after its loss.

The twins were happy to have found a place at the back of the three rows of desks in the classroom to file into. The desk rows faced the teacher's desk, which had a large upholstered, high back chair. There was a blackboard on either side, behind that was positioned a small shelf with books and various knick-knacks under a pair of windows.

The Prefects were constantly stopping the twins because of their pranks and taking small point amounts from Gryffindor. The twins were out for revenge against them because of a recent confiscation of fireworks, so until the Professor showed up, the twins spent their time discussing possible tricks to pull on the Prefects. Upon his arrival, however, they became entranced by the lesson. Not surprisingly, considering the attitude and stature of Professor Flitwick.

The Professor was a strangely short man with bright white hair. This alone set him apart, but he was also very charismatic and clearly intelligent. He almost had to be, considering he was the Ravenclaw Head of House. After positioning himself on his high chair, created especially for him since he was too short to be seen otherwise, Professor Flitwick immediately started the class off learning how to cast new spells. It was fascinating, and not a single student seemed to be bored. Whereas History of Magic was viewed as a naptime, Charms was an energetic class.

By the time class was over, the students had been able to practice several simple spells. Among them was a levitation charm as well as a light charm. Kitty was among the first to achieve proper use of the spells, because she had already learned the spells and how to work them from reading the textbook. The twins were not far behind, however, because they seemed to have a talent for Charms in general.

After class, the twins decided on their Prefect prank.

"Basically the only tool we need is this clear string," Fred said excitedly as he retrieved a ball of string from his pocket.

"There's a Prefect's bathroom on one of the upper floors, and we're going to find it and barricade each of the sides."

"So, you're going to try and trip the Prefects?"

"Hopefully they'll be good sports," George nodded.

"You two are going to get in a lot of trouble. I doubt any of the Prefects have much of a sense of humor. They took your fireworks for a reason," Kitty attempted to reason with them.

"Well, it'll be good for a laugh," Fred grinned, "You can just hang out and watch until we're done."

"Okay, but I'm not saying it's a good idea. We might run into Peeves, you know."

Kitty was not happy about Peeves in any way. Often the poltergeist would show up to ruin the tricks of the twins; it was almost a game of who could come up with the best trick. The twins hoped to pull of the best possible trick at some point so that Peeves would respect their tricks. Kitty wasn't sure how long this would take, or how big it would have to be, but she was pretty sure Peeves would show up for their trick. Whether he would help or hinder was yet to be seen.

Fred and George chattered to Kitty excitedly about how the Prefects would react. They were each hoping to get Ronda back for taking their map the first day they had come. Kitty, of course, found this silly. It had been a long time since then, not to mention it hadn't been Ronda's fault that the map was lost.

"She gave it back to you; it was Peeves that destroyed it," Kitty reasoned.

"It doesn't matter who destroyed it," George replied.

"It's a 'you do something, I do something system,'" Fred agreed somberly.

"Do you really take pranking so seriously?"

"It's about making others happy, finding a little fun in serious situations," Fred began and George finished, "Not to mention bringing authorities down to the same level as everyone else."

"Why would you need to do that?" Kitty wondered.

"Every once in a while…" George murmured, and Fred finished for him without pause, "we all need a friendly reminder that we are all the same. No one is more important than anyone else, and we all need to remember to treat others as such."

"You guys are cute," Kitty smiled, and when Fred smiled back, she blushed a little.

"We're not cute, we're pranksters," the two replied in unison.

The twins found a pair of pillars on either side of the Prefect bathroom. They were careful to hide behind the pillars while they wrapped several rounds of the string around the pillars. Peeves was yet to be seen, but Kitty suspected he was somewhere nearby cloaking his presence. As Prefects walked by Kitty sitting on the bench near the bathroom, they would look around carefully and skeptically ask her if she was alone.

"Well, I'm sitting by myself, so yes," she'd reply with a smile.

"I suppose that is true, but I suspect your friends the Weasley twins are up to something," one of the Prefects said, looking around him carefully.

"They're always up to something," she replied.

As the twins were finishing up wrapping the final pair of pillars they retrieved a pair of dung bombs. Fred stood by the left pillars, and George was on the right. Thankfully, Kitty was positioned between the two sets of pillars, so she wouldn't be hit by the stink.

Fred was just about to give the signal, when a stern voice called out, "Fred and George, what are you doing here?"

Kitty looked towards the voice to see a tall and lanky boy with the same red hair as the twins. He was easily recognizable from the few times the twins had pointed him out to her in the Gryffindor Common Room. Percy Weasley stopped a few feet away, recognizing the object in Fred's hands.

"You are really not going to throw that dung bomb at me are you?" he grumbled at the twins, giving them each a look.

"Well, that wasn't the original plan," George said, lowering his arm.

"What are you doing in the Prefect's Corridor, Perce," Fred questioned his elder brother.

"Percy. What am I doing here? I was sent here to find out what _you_ were doing. You can't keep doing all these tricks; you're giving me a bad name. All my chances at Prefect are going to be ruined because of you!" Percy raged at his brothers before catching eye of Kitty, "Please tell me you aren't _helping _them."

"No…I'm just," Kitty began to explain herself.

"She never helps," Fred responded for her, protectively stepping in front of Percy's view of her, "She tries to talk us out of it. Kitty is just taking a break."

Percy sighed exasperatedly, "Fine. But I'm taking these dung bombs, now."

Percy began to reach for the dung bomb Fred still had in his hand. Just as he was about to grab it, he was interrupted by a loud cackle. Peeves appeared over Percy's shoulder, causing him to shout and jump back.

"Don't ruin my fun you boring Weasley boy. I likes to pull tricks on the perfect Prefects; yes, I do."

Peeves began to fly in circles around Percy while cackling. Percy attempted to swat Peeves away, but his hands went right through Peeves's ghost-like figure. The cackling began to get so loud that Prefects started to appear at the door of the bathroom, gaping at the events transpiring in front of them.

"Now Weasley boys, before they try to escape!" Peeves commanded with an evil grin.

Kitty took off and hopped over the clear string just as the boys tossed their dung bombs directly at the Prefects. Originally, the plan had been to cause a diversion with the dung bombs to draw the Prefects out, making them trip over the string, but now they were covered in smelly smoke. Unable to see very well, the Prefects took off trying to escape the billowing stench, tripping over each other and getting caught in the string.

Peeves cackled uncontrollably, still playing with Percy. After observing their work and laughing, George ran off down his side of the corridor, and Fred grabbed Kitty, grinning from ear to ear, taking her along down the left corridor.

"Your brother is going to kill you," Kitty shouted to Fred over the commotion.

"I don't care; this was great!" he shouted back, "We've got Peeves on our team!"


End file.
